Hamburg, March 22nd, 2016 – Bigpoint GMBH, a global leader in free-to-play online and mobile gaming publishing today announced an agreement has been reached for the acquisition of Bigpoint GMBH by Youzu Interactive Co, Ltd. Subject to Chinese acquisition processes, the transaction is due to be completed in April 2016, with Youzu purchasing all available Bigpoint stock.
Together, Bigpoint and Youzu will create one of the only truly global destinations for online and mobile gaming, with significant market share in over 200 countries worldwide.
Youzu’s acquisition will usher in a new era for BigPoint, beginning with the upcoming launch of Hocus Puzzle, with a marketing budget in excess of €30m globally.
Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Hamburg with the goal of creating great games that everyone can play, Bigpoint GMBH has seven offices around the world, including Hamburg, Berlin, Lyon, Istanbul, Seoul, San Francisco and Malta. Played by tens of millions of fans across the globe, its key franchises include Farmerama, DarkOrbit, Seafight, Drakensang Online and Battlestar Gallactica Online. Creating and investing in both original and licensed IP, Bigpoint is a leading online and mobile games publisher.
Youzu interactive Co, Ltd was founded in by Lin Qi in 2009, and is a leading publisher of online, mobile and massively multiplayer online videogames in China and the USA. Its market leading brands: League of Angels, Knight’s Fable and Magerealm are published in multiple languages, with hundreds of millions of fans globally.
Khaled Helioui, CEO Bigpoint said: “With this collaboration, Bigpoint begins the next chapter in its history focused exclusively on the quality of titles published. With the support of Youzu, we will be able to further invest in our talent, the amazing experiences they create and the reach of our games.” He continued, “Lin Qi’s passion and vision for the industry resonated with our hunger to provide better experiences to our players. Partnering with a player centric, product focused organization such as Youzu will allow us to have the means of our ambition: Great gaming for everybody.”